Monthly Archives: April 2016

Much MUCH better this week, not that last week’s was bad or anything because it wasn’t. But this episode was just way better IMO, on par with the first two.

Usagi determining Uranus’ identity as Haruka after being kissed by her and seeing her as both a man and a woman (that makes Haruka very pleased I’m sure), Chibiusa bonding with Hotaru and healing her pain with her Silver Crystal, and Minako fangirling over Mimete and genderbending were all an absolute joy to watch. Hearing Michiru’s violin melody and seeing them all dressed up was also quite a treat.

The fight this week was also way better, and seeing all five of the Senshi get to use their attacks was excellent. They also didn’t have all of them transform at once, and that was a smart move.

I’m not as upset about Mimete being gone so quickly because as you said, there’s nothing I can do about it. And I don’t care about her as much as Eudial. If this season had a few more episodes they could flesh the villains out a lot more filler or no filler be damned, just like the 90s anime did. But its not a big deal. She still put up a good fight in the end…but owww did that World Shaking fuck her up good. Loved when the Outers came in to save Chibiusa from her blast.

Not really much else to say about this episode, honestly. But I think that’s a good thing, in my case. Less to complain about, and that’s encouraging.

Welp, next week Usagi continues questioning her sexuality and has her relationship with Mamoru in crisis, the Talismans and the Holy Grail are fully revealed, Chibiusa (and Hotaru) keeps being adorable and the Outers awesome as always. Can’t wait.

I liked it, but it felt a little weak in comparison to the last two. The highlights are/were probably the various divination sessions the characters were having, Mako wanting to celebrate Rei’s birthday (the episode literally aired the day after <3) and taking everyone up into the mountains to find her (Oh man that fucking callback, I don't even know if it was intentional or not but <3), Chibiusa getting flustered and talking about how pretty Hotaru is (its love at first sight AND YOU CAN'T TELL ME OTHERWISE!) and of course seeing Hotaru in pain (ORIGINAL MOE SUFFERING ONLY MAKES ME WANT TO PROTECT HER EVEN MORE, FUCK YOU TOMOE AND PHARAOH 90).

Having known about the fact that in the manga, Souichi is worst dad and Kaorinite is best surrogate mom (unlike in S where it was the opposite, bless you Ikuhara, also 90s Professor Tomoe best mad scientist in magical girl anime get rekt Ver and Jail you massive wannabe cucklords), that will take some getting used to. But I can handle it. I don't like it but I can handle it.

Frankly, I wasn't as excited as everyone else (manga readers) seemed to be with Haruka flirting with/FUCKING KISSING Usagi and Michiru flirting with Mamoru, though its not like I really didn't expect it. Mako and Haruka having a rivalry instead of the former being instantly smitten/admiring the latter, now that I did like a lot actually, especially Mako's reactions to getting shown up. Ami Koshimizu plays her so damn well in this. And Haruka is just so smug, she's just the best. ❤

And then the REALLY big thing that just AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH MAKES ME SO FUCKING MAD is the fact that Eudial enacted her first plot and then got KILLED OFF. That was just so annoying for me because she's my absolute favorite Sailor Moon villain and it was just SO fast. The fight scene also really wasn't that great, though Rei got to use Mars Fire Snake and that was badass (even if it was completely ineffective against a Fire Mage like Eudial).

But whatever, next episode we get Mimete and I love that bitch, so I'll get over it.

So yeah, all in all a good episode, but certain biases keep me from really enjoying it as much as I want to. But Rei and Mako fucking shined, Haruka is a flawless handsome sexy ass lesbian flirt as always and Chibitaru going stronk, so I can't really complain too much.

Yeah this show is on my list. It’ll be the fourth KyoAni show I end up starting, and probably the one I’ll finish first. It may or may not be the one I enjoy the most, but only time will tell.

Though I’m primarily watching it because I have begun craving music anime and Asuka is so so soooooooooooooooooo HOT. I’m sure the queerbaiting won’t bug me, and I actually am really interested in seeing how KumiRei is handled. A lot of my friends love this show, while I don’t know if I’ll be as engaged in it as they were, I’ll certainly give it a shot. There’s a compilation film coming soon too, right? And then a second season? Dammit PonyCanyon, I have so much catching up to do.

But it looks absolutely beautiful and for once the character designs don’t make me cringe. So we’ll see how it goes.

Huh. Nadeko Snake is probably my least favorite arc of Monogatari, not because of Nadeko but just how I don’t find it nearly as compelling as others and I strongly dislike how it ends as well. But this article shed some new light on the arc that I didn’t look at before, especially since I find most people don’t really take her seriously as a character (like myself) until when she invites Koyomi to her house while her parents aren’t home in Nise, or in Otori when her infamous transformation that turned her into ‘worst girl’ begins.

I did not even notice the Jizo statues at first, that is a super interesting piece of cultural context that strengthens the narrative of that arc. I’m gonna have to take another look at this based on what you said.

It’s a common practice in Monogatari fandom – ‘best girl’ ranking. Logic takes a spectator’s seat to the side; watching, but rarely taking part in the tumult of opinion and maelstrom of emotion. There are a few clear heads that stand above all the rest, this much is true, but I think I stand alone in defense of Nadeko Sengoku, the arc Nadeko Snake being one of the most thematically driven and narrative tight arcs of that first series.

I think I can completely get on board with your thoughts about Monogatari as well. Picking apart all the reasons why I love it just doesn’t do it justice.

But if I really had to, I’d go with the following points:

-The writing is so unique, to me, just because its all dialogue conveying narrative tension of both a comedic and dramatic persuasion. All of the subtext in the text, the inner voice, the stream of consciousness style of writing…its just so unorthodox, and not to sound like a hipster here, but that’s most of all what makes it compelling. That and I love how tongue in cheek and self-aware it is. The humanism is also a big thing, because the way the conversations are conducted despite being staged, they sound and look like how conversations between real people are connected especially when they go off topic/on tangents. As someone who has experienced social ineptitude in the past, this always used to annoy me when I tried to conduct discussions with people, but through Monogatari I’ve come to respect and even appreciate that this is just how people communicate.

-Every character in the cast stands out and belies more than a specific surface archetype, and I feel that each one of them drives the narrative as much as the other. I surely like some more than others, especially as people, but it is undeniable that Monogatari has one of my favorite cast of characters in all of anime/fiction itself.

-I don’t really need to say anything about the visuals and audio that you haven’t already said, but I do love that the background art direction never fails to be relevant to what the characters are discussing/doing or keep me entertained even during long moments of infodumping/exposition/staying in one location that would probably lose my interest in any other show.

-And lastly, its probably that the series strongly compliments my own life philosophy, and I appreciate it for existing because of that alone.

But as you said, none of this breaking it down and trying to explain each element of the series and why it works does it justice. It’s about the experience, and virtually nothing more, nothing less.

Monogatari loves me, and I love it right back. Yet, until recently, I couldn’t really tell you why I loved it.

I could try, but I couldn’t convey my feelings to my satisfaction. There was always some inexpressible something I couldn’t get across. Certainly, I have never been short of positive things to say about the series. In fact, it’s always been easy to express why I like Monogatari: it’s a layered, ever-twisting tale of non-archetypal and broken characters struggling against the idea that they alone can’t fix their fucked-up-ness. Welcome to my wheelhouse.

But, there’s a bunch of stuff in my wheelhouse that I don’t feel super strongly about, stuff that doesn’t resonate as deeply with me as Monogats. What is it about this thing that grabs me so tightly? The fact that I couldn’t adequately express my Monigatari-related thoughts and feelings was actually a bit troubling because it…

Oh God this one is fantastic…I’m going to have to come back to it though…I’m not 100 percent sure how and if I’m going to respond to it, and I have yet to see enough Shaft anime to properly support this claim (that Shinbo is dead).

There are many misconceptions among Western fans about Akiyuki Shinbo and his role at Shaft. Most mainstream anime-watchers venerate him as though he is the sole director at the studio and English sources frequently support that assertion. Indeed, Shinbo is credited as the director for almost all Shaft series that have pages on Wikipedia, and even ANN rarely references anyone else in Shaft-related articles.

While the notion of Shinbo being the only director at Shaft is plainly wrong, I can see why such a myth is perpetuated. In most series produced by the studio he is credited as director (監督) or chief director (総監督), and his style has had a massive influence overall. People tend to interpret this as meaning he is the primary director, having more creative input than anyone else, when in actuality he is simply following the role of studio leader that has helped Shaft stay so…

This was a great episode, and the only thing I’d really point out as a problem I have is exactly what you said, about transformation sequences take up way too much screentime. As much as I love them, that is an issue, but for nostalgic, aesthetic and traditional reasons I don’t want them taken out. They are so gorgeous and its even better that they look so much like the the ones from the 90s anime. But ideally, they really shouldn’t take up so much screentime since they’re not needed for stock footage anymore. I’m really conflicted. ;-;

Additionally, I was SO THRILLED when they brought back the older attacks from the 90s anime as well. That was so nostalgic and they were so unbelievably pretty and it just made me so happy.

I also caught that the three parts of the Sankakutsu were named after the Outers. That’s interesting…I suppose that’ll be touched upon later.

I love the Witches 5, I’m so glad to finally see them again. Eudial is so sexy. ❤

The one thing that's bizarre to me is Hotaru saying "Who the Hell are you?" I don't really remember her having ever spoken like that (it just doesn't seem in her character), but then again, the manga and S are different beasts…and I'm only familiar with the latter atm.

On my first viewing I do have to admit that I felt like some of the transitions weren’t as clean as in the previous episode, but I didn’t feel that way on the second viewing.

Your coverage of it is pretty solid, and I’m looking forward to seeing more HaruMichi and Chibitaru in the next few episodes too. As I've not read the manga up to this point I'll let you be my guide in case the adaptation leaves out some stuff, but so far they haven't missed anything.

Here we are again for another episode of SMC Infinity! This is the title I’ve chosen and I’m sticking with it. I know I said I was going to wait a few days, but I’m going to post this now so that I can discuss with OG Man, who’s also covering the show on his blog. I’ll be discussing this episode and how it compares to the manga, so naturally it’ll have spoilers of just the relevant material, not future manga material. So let’s get into it.

So here we have our official introduction to the Witches 5, who are asked by Kaolinite to take down the Senshi and they will be leveled up in return. They are the best group of villains without a doubt and the prettiest as well in my opinion.

This shows a map of the Infinity District, which includes the Mugen Academy at it’s…